My "Must Read" Fiction List

Suz tagged me on a meme in which one is to name her top 10 must-read novels. Since I can't sleep I'll do my best to give you ten that I think everyone should read before they die.  There are definitely more books I'd suggest, but at this time of the morning my insomniac mind reaches for the following titles.  So, on another day I'd include some of these and replace some with other suggestions.  What can I say... I just can't commit.

*  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)

*  The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

*  1984 (George Orwell) 

*  To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

*  The Bluest Eye (Tony Morrison)

*  The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

*  Native Son (Richard Wright)

*  Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austin)

*  Ulysses (James Joyce)

*  The Old Man and The Sea (Ernest Hemmingway)

I'm not going to reread this list because I know I'd change it over and over.  Instead I'll think of short story collections people should read.  And, I'll tag Jer, David, Monk, and Virginia (all of whom are probably too busy writing and/or painting to read this.)

G'night.

Comments

[Dave Feldman]

This isn't the kind of thing I do on my blog, but off the top of my head:

Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky)
War and Peace (Tolstoy)
Dr. Zhivago (Pasternak)
Bible (Anonymous)
The Idiot (Dostoevsky)
Lolita (Nabakov)
Pride and Prejudice (Austen)
Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
Fathers and Sons (Turgenev)
Remains of the Day (Ishiguro)

[Hummingbird Mind]

Now, how did I know you'd list "Lolita"? I agree with that one as well as others you listed. I'd also list "And Quiet Flows the Don" by Sholokov. I shouldn't make these lists at 3 in the morning. Really. I'd list Camus' "The Stranger," too. A list of 10 is too short! Good thing life is longer.

[Hummingbird Mind]

BTW, I'm aware of the controversy over who actually wrote "And Quiet Flows the Don." I'll still list it though and hope the mystery is sorted out later.

[virginia]

If you tagged me I never saw it. How does that work? What is meme?

[Hummingbird Mind]

Yes, it's a meme, I guess. I tagged you by linking to your blog in my post. That's how I was tagged... so that's how I figured it worked. Now that I think about it, I should also have placed a comment on your blog or e-mailed you to let you know. Sorry :-)

[Dave Feldman]

Few books have had the influence on me as The Stranger. I read it as a high school student, around the same time a teacher was "pushing" existentialism on us. I don't think it's quite on the level of the ten I listed, but in terms of influence on me, it would easily hit the top ten.